Prayer

One of the best quotes I have ever heard on prayer went like this: “I never pray for more than two to three minutes…but then again, I never go more than ten minutes without prayer.” When was the last time you gave some serious thought to the whole concept, idea and practice of prayer? Has anyone ever taught you to pray? I find it fascinating the disciples only asked Jesus to teach them one thing. They did not ask Jesus to teach them how to: Love Forgive Fish Hunt Play golf Heal Preach Exorcise demons Market themselves to attract bigger audiences Win the Power Ball Move up the corporate ladder They only asked Jesus to teach them one thing. Listen in: Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray…” (Luke 11: 1) He gave them a model for prayer: Pray then like this:“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. ¹⁰ Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread, ¹² and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6: 9-13)   If you are looking for a great model of prayer, Jesus provides it… Six petitions follow the invocation of recognizing we are in the presence of “Our Father in heaven…” Petition #1 – Hallowed be your name… Holy be your name! Petition #2 – Your kingdom come Petition #3 – Your will be done - NOT our will! Petition #4 – Give us this day our daily bread – May we be physically fed throughout the day Petition #5 – Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors (Do we really want to pray this petition? Do we want to be forgiven only as much as we have forgiven others?) Petition #6 – Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil – May God lead us into righteousness, not evil. Six petitions Two sections – three petitions each One section points us to God One section points us to our needs Let’s keep the model alive… Let’s pray without ceasing! (1 Thessalonians 5: 17) SeeingGodatWorkEveryDay... Laugh often and Fear not! David! David@seeinggodatworkeveryday.comwww.daviddendy.com